The students read and analyzed John Keats’ poem, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” and we then did a Visible Thinking exercise using artwork that was inspired by Keats’ poem.

They had their choice from the following paintings:

Walter Crane (1865)

Arthur Hughes (1861-63)

Frank Cadogan Cowper (1926)

Henry Meynell Rheam (1901)

John William Waterhouse (1893)

Robert Anning Bell

Sir Frank Dicksee (1902)

Once the class voted on the painting they wished to work with, we did a See/Think/Wonder exercise in which they had to focus on how the painting reflected specific imagery in Keats’ poem. We share their responses using Post-Its and then wrote a three-chunk paragraph analyzing the painting using textual support from the poem.

While the students were writing, we listened to the following musical interpretation of “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” as performed by Jesse Ferguson.

Students read a synopsis of each chapter of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and RHA’d it for content relating to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The class was then divided into three groups for this assignment.

Three groups: God, Satan, and Adam

SEE:

Each group has to find five pairs of quotations that correlate between the chosen character from Paradise Lost (God, Satan, or Adam) and either Victor or the Creature from Frankenstein.

THINK:

Groups each choose the strongest pair of quotations that act as a correlation and state what they think about that correlation.

WONDER:

For the same pair of lines, state what they wonder about the correlation.

Students each get one Post-It Note. One color for each: See, Think, or Wonder. Students then share Post-It Notes.

WRITING:

Students will write a three chunk paragraph correlating God, Satan, or Adam to either Victor or the Creature. They must use their pairs of lines as textual support for their claims.

This Visible Thinking activity is done with a twist. Instead of merely sharing something simple that they see, think, or wonder, students must stretch to use adjective/noun combinations for what they see, similes for what they think, and metaphors for what they wonder… all relating to the sublime.

I let the classes select one of the following paintings:

The Arcadian or Pastoral State by Thomas Cole

The Savage State by Thomas Cole

Il Penseroso by Thomas Cole (inspired by “L’Allegro,” a poem by John Milton)

Students list ten very specific details they see in the painting, and then share their list with a partner. Any details that they have in common are marked with a checkmark (so that less obvious details stand out to them for later).

THINK:

Students put three things they think about the painting represents the sublime.

WONDER:

Students put three things they wonder about the painting represents the sublime.

Students each get one Post-It Note. One color for each: See, Think, or Wonder.

For those with the color for SEE, they have to use an adjective/adjective/nouncombination to describe something they see that represents the sublime.

For those with the color for THINK, they have to create a simile about how they think something in the painting represents the sublime.

For those with the color for WONDER, they have to create a metaphor for what they wonder about how the artist created the sublime on canvas.

Students then share Post-It Notes on the front board.

WRITING:

Students will write a three chunk paragraph about how the painting is a representation of the sublime, much like Victor’s escape to nature after the deaths of William and Justine. Be sure to define and explain “sublime” as it relates to both the painting and the novel.

My Enriched students just published their short story anthology, Under the Same Skies under the collective name of Sentries of the Past.

Sentries of the Past is a group of 9th grade students at Webster Schroeder High School who spent six months researching the Hero’s Journey pattern as outlined by mythologist Joseph Campbell. From there, the students explored how the pattern is part of the human condition and how it can be used as a tool to examine their own lives.

For 60 days, my 9th graders reflected and shared insights as they explored the archetypal hero within. After completing The Sixty Day Sojourn and after reading a book of forensic anthropology, Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw, each student selected one of the four hominids studied in the work and “put flesh on the bones,” so to speak.

In order to incorporate the research component of the CCSS, they researched the regions where the bones were found, as well as the cultures of the people who have lived in that area. From there, they were able to create hypotheses regarding the lives of their chosen hominid. While the stories are still a work of fiction, they have been based on historical and cultural facts. They also still incorporate Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey pattern.

You may click on the picture to link to the publication page.

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Here are the students and their story titles (in no particular order):

Similar to what we did with the creation scenes from the 1931 Universal film and the 1994 Kenneth Branagh version, we watched two video clips, did a SEE/THINK/WONDER for each one, discussed comparisons/contrasts, and then had a short writing assignment.

These are the two clips from Young Frankenstein (1974).

The first depicts Gene Wilder (as Victor Frankenstein) and Peter Boyle (as the Creature) doing a tap dance to “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” What I want the students to see is the parody of how people become afraid of the creature and also how the creature comes to loathe people who treat him badly.

The second clip is when the Creature (Peter Boyle) comes upon the house of a blind priest (Gene Hackman), and the priest unsuccessfully tries to offer his guest some hospitality. I want students to make the connection to the blind man in the hovel where the creature has been spying on and learning from the family that lives there.

Students will be evaluating film techniques as well as comparing and contrasting film to text. for the Visible Thinking part of the exercise, we will watch two different film interpretations of the creation scene in Frankenstein. They will be looking for a total of ten things they notice (See) in each clip; however, they have to find two in each of the following categories: Characterization, Lighting, Set Design, Sound/Music, Costumes/Make-Up.

The first is from the Universal Films 1931 production starring Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein (notice the name change) and Boris Karloff as the creature (on a side note, Boris Karloff’s– whose real name was William Henry Pratt– great grand-nephew lives here in Rochester).

NOTE: the YouTube link is to one person’s channel, and the videos all play when going to this link. The one I used in class is the four minute piece at clip 3. I am saving Gene Wilder for when we do parody!

The second is from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars as Victor Frankenstein, with Robert De Niro as the Creature.

After watching both clips, students shared what they saw in each of the five categories with a partner. They then went on to write three things they THINK about how the clips reflect events in the novel, followed by three things they WONDER about how the clips reflect the events in the novel. They must keep in mind as they write what they think and wonder that they are going to be asked to write a comparison/contrast piece for the film clips and the novel.

Students were then given two different colored Post-Its for SEE/THINK/WONDER; one color that related to the Universal film, and another for the Branagh version. We then shared aloud and posted them in the front of the room on a large poster paper. Once all students had the opportunity to share, we discussed the major similarities and differences between Hollywood and Shelley’s work. They then went on to work on their writing pieces.